Powerhouse
The Powerhouse era was the third era of Cartoon Network. It began in April 1998 and ended during the early morning hours of June 14, 2004. It was succeeded by the CN City era. The last program to air under the Powerhouse era on June 14, 2004 was Captain Planet. The era was named after the Raymond Scott composition, "Powerhouse", which was the musical theme for most bumpers and graphical elements of this period. However, in January 2003, the Powerhouse music was removed from the bumpers and replaced with a series of generic fanfares and themes (except on the weekends, when the Powerhouse music was used for Coming Up Next bumpers). Also the yellow (for Coming Up Next bumpers only), green (also for Coming Up Next bumpers), blue, purple backgrounds of that era were still used from late 2003 until mid-2004. Programming With the transition from the Starburst era to the Powerhouse era, the network slowly began to feature their original series more prominently. This eventually led to the classic animation programming block, Boomerang, being split off into its own network in April 2000, taking most of the classic Hanna-Barbera series with it. A total of 14 original series were produced during this era. During this era several notable programming blocks were introduced including: Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre, a movie block that aired on CN from July 1998 to 2007; Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, a weekly programming block through which the network premiered new episodes of its original series; and Adult Swim, a late-night block aimed at a more mature audience that became its own network in 2005. CN Original Series *''The Moxy Show'' (ended January 2, 2000) *''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' (ended July 22, 2001) *''Dexter's Laboratory'' (interruption on December 10, 1998, restarted on November 16, 2001 and ended November 20, 2003) *''Johnny Bravo'' *''Cow and Chicken'' (ended July 24, 1999) *''I Am Weasel'' (ended March 2, 2000) *''The Powerpuff Girls'' (premiered November 18, 1998) *''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' (premiered January 4, 1999) *''Mike, Lu & Og'' (premiered November 12, 1999 and ended May 27, 2001) *''Courage the Cowardly Dog'' (premiered November 12, 1999 and ended November 22, 2002) *''Sheep in the Big City'' (premiered November 17, 2000 and ended April 7, 2002) *''Time Squad'' (premiered June 8, 2001 and ended November 26, 2003) *''Samurai Jack'' (premiered August 10, 2001) *''Grim & Evil'' (premiered August 24, 2001 and ended October 18, 2002) *''Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?'' (premiered July 12, 2002 and ended November 14, 2003) *''Codename: Kids Next Door'' (premiered December 6, 2002) *''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' (premiered June 14, 2003) *''Evil Con Carne'' (premiered July 11, 2003) *''Star Wars: Clone Wars'' (premiered November 7, 2003) *''Megas XLR'' (premiered May 1, 2004) Acquired Series Trivia *When Grim & Evil splitted and separated The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne in late 2003, the two series did not have their very own Powerhouse bumpers. They, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Megas XLR, where the only original Cartoon Network series to not have their very own Powerhouse bumpers that aired during the commercials. *In Asia and Australia, this era aired from August 1, 1999 to October 1, 2005. *In Japan, this era aired all the way until sometime in 2006. *Also when the Friday-themed program blocks were not airing at any time of the week, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne episodes that first aired on Grim & Evil were the only episodes seen during the Powerhouse era's normal weekly and weekend programming. *''Codename: Kids Next Door'' and Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? are the last two shows to have Powerhouse bumpers in 2002. *After Adult Swim signed out at 5:00am on June 14, 2004, Time Squad and Captain Planet were the final two shows to air under the Powerhouse era. At 6:00am, the City era debuted and The Powerpuff Girls was the first show to air under the City era. *When the Powerhouse era was slightly updated in 2003, not only was the original music removed from the "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers, but the green, yellow, and dark blue/black backgrounds of those bumpers were also removed, leaving the blue and purple (for the action shows) backgrounds seen during those bumpers seen from mid-2003 to mid-2004. *However the green and yellow backgrounds were not removed permanently from the network, as the "Coming Up Next" bumpers often contained the green and yellow backgrounds. These "Coming Up Next" bumpers with the green and yellow backgrounds, where really being mixed with the blue and purple "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers at the time. *Also, when Toonami: Midnight Run aired or after Adult Swim signed off during that time, the dark blue/black "Coming Up Next" bumpers were also used. *According to some, from May 30, 2004 to June 13, 2004 (16 days before the City era officially began), the then City bumpers were being mixed with the Powerhouse bumpers. Instead of showing the "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to The Show" bumpers during the show, the City era bumpers (with a 1992-2004 Cartoon Network logo) would air during the commercials, while the Powerhouse "Coming Up Next" bumpers would continue to be used until the early hours of June 14, 2004. *Many fans consider this era to be the final classic era of Cartoon Network. *In the "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers for many shows, the era's announcers Hartman, Shearer, Welker and Clark were eventually replaced as announcer by CN characters, such as Dexter (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) and many characters from Dexter's Laboratory, Ed from Ed, Edd n Eddy (voiced by Matt Hill), Lu from Mike, Lu & Og (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), Courage from Courage the Cowardly Dog (voiced by Marty Grabstein) and the narrator from The Powerpuff Girls (voiced by Tom Kenny). The bumpers with the characters as the announcers were used until 2003.